A modest software investment has given our 94-bed hospital laboratory
sophisticate inventory control over expendables.

For example, we print a seven-page catalog from time to time,
alphabetically listing 300 supply items used by the lab and showing
their storage location and current prices, among other information.
Another catalog, listing supply items by location, serves as a checklist
when we take inventory at the shelves. We can also issue printed
ordering instructions to the hospital purchasing department, get an
instant reading on what is due from a vendor and what has been received,
calculate the cost of an item per test, and determine section by section
expenditures on supplies.

All this and more was made possible through DB Master, a data base
management program purchased for $250 from Stoneware, San Raphael,
Calif. The hardware consists of my own Apple II Plus microcomputer with
two disk drives. We use an Epson dot matrix printer to prepare reports.

We had explored use of the purchasing department's inventory
software for general hospital items, but it would have taken a lot of
reprogramming on the hospital minicomputer to get the kind of reports we
wanted. With a data base management program, the user stores
information in categories called fields (vendor names is one field,
supply items another, and prices a third) and joins the fields in any
combination to create records or reports.

Those reports, by the way, are available as soon as they are
generated from the microcomputer keyboard. There's no waiting for
another hospital department to furnish them.

On command, the microcomputer alphabetizes item names or organizes
catalog code numbers in numerical order. Thus, it's a simple
matter to add new vendors or other data to a field. Note, however, that
adding an entirely new field requires entry (in some cases, reentry) of
all pertinent data. Careful planning at the outset, to determine which
fields and reports are desirable, can avoid extensive change in the data
base at a later date.

Another feature creates a calculated field from two other numerical
fields. If one field consists of package prices and another of units
per package, arithmetic division performed by the computer will enter
unit costs in a third field.

Let's go through the fields, starting with catalog number,
which lists the codes that identify supply items. We decided to use
vendor catalog numbers, long familiar to us, rather than lab-assigned
numbers. Since we sometimes buy the same type of product from more than
one company, the vendor numbers enable us to distinguish between the
different brands.

Fields were set up for item--what the thing is, such as hematology
control; description--package of 10 vials, say; unit--how the item is
sold (by the kit or package as examples); and unit price--what the
vendor charges for a unit.

Date ordered and late received are fields that tell us when
supplies were requested and delivered. Date issued records when
delivered items were first put into use.

A location field helps prevent misplacement of supplies in storage
areas and long frustrating searches when we run out at the bench. It
specifies, by code, where delivered items should be stored. All
refrigerators, cupboard doors, and drawers are labeled with a number for
this purpose. BB1 marks the first cupboard in the blood bank.

The location codes are also printed in a lab inventory catalog.
That helps technologists find supplies when they work in areas they are
not accustomed to, and it guides nontechnical staff members when they
take inventory and put away supplies. Another key guide for taking
inventory is the par field, which lists minimum quantities to be kept on
hand.

Inventory frequency designates how often our stock of an item
should be checked. It varies, obviously, with the rate of use and the
stability of the item. Standing order (yes/no) and standing order due
remind us about regularly shipped items and the dates they are to be
delivered.

A field for order extension, or total price of a requisition, has
entries that are derived from automatic multiplication of unit price and
units ordered. This is especially appreciated by the purchasing
department, which must make certain that each order carries current
vendor pricing and an accurate total price for comparison against the
invoice.

We zero in on supply cost per test through a subunit price field.
With needles, he subunit price is clearly the cost for each. In the
case of blood bank reagents, the cost breakdown is trickier. Typing
sera calls for 1 drop of reagent. There are 20 drops per ml, and a vial has 10 ml of reagent. Subunit price, then, is automatically calculated
by dividing 200 drops into the vial price.

As supply items were entered into the data base, a section using
field was completed to indicate where they were utilized in the
laboratory. This permitted us to design a report breaking down
inventory dollars spent in chemistry, hematology, the blood bank, and
other laboratory areas.

Those are the major fields in our inventory data base. Here are
some of the reports we are able to generate.

The inventory catalog can be printed in a number of different
formats, but we use two primarily. The alphabetical format is often
turned to when we want to look up the vendor number for an item, check
prices, or find a storage location. This catalog also indicates which
section uses an item, its storage location, whether the item is on
standing order, and if so, when delivery is due.

We also print the inventory catalog according to storage location,
a format that is especially useful in checking for items in short
supply. Going down the list of items at a location, we compare quantity
on the shelf with the par or minimum level shown in the catalog. What
we use, actually, is a photocopy of the catalog with a grid drawn
alongside the item list--it makes a handy form to check off what and how
much needs to be ordered (Figure I).

When ordering, I first search the data base for the needed item.
The program is fairly rapid. In a diskette file of 500 records, it can
find the requested catalog number in two seconds or less. Then the
item's record flashes on my monitor. All I need to do is complete
the fields for units ordered, p.o. (purchase order) number, and date
ordered.

The done, I can print a "purchase initiator," which has
the catalog number of the item, its description, the unit price, and the
extension or the price for the quantity ordered (Figure II). I also get
a column total for the extensions of all items ordered. The purchase
initiator goes to the purchasing department, which places the order with
the vendor.

I also print adhesive labels bearing the catalog number and
description of the item, storage location, and date ordered. When the
item is received from the vendor, we stick its label on the package to
designate where it should be stored and to identify the contents. A
copy of the shipment's packing slip is passed on to me, and I enter
the date received into the inventory data base.

As an item is drawn from storage for use at the bench, a
technologist removes its package label and sticks it to a pad on one of
several clipboards throughout the lab. Each two-week pay period, I
gather the labels and enter usage of items into the data base.

Our inventory activity report can summarize orders, deliveries, and
usage for any time interval and by section. These reports are printed
monthly right now, but I plan to prepare them every pay period for use
with other reports under development on a spreadsheet program. That
will give us the ability to correlate paid hours; inventory ordered,
received, and issued; and workload.

Other kinds of information are readily available from the inventory
data base. For example, I can budget accurately by section instead of
having to project lumpsum supply costs for the laboratory as a whole. I
can also quickly determine just how many supply dollars are going to
each vendor.

There are many more information retrieval possibilities, all
flowing from the fields we set up at the beginning. Ease of taking
inventory, a sharp decline in Stat supply orders, and a reduction in
inventory dollars on the shelf are among the benefits.

COPYRIGHT 1985 Nelson Publishing
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